All About Us
by tensionandthrill
Summary: Mr. Schue recycles the same old theme and it gets Mercedes thinking about all that isn't right. Will her senior year culminate with more of the same, or will it be all she ever dreamed?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** The summary should really say, "Click here for random promfic." I decided to go for something more poetic. Lol. I hope you like.

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**MONDAY:**

Mercedes rolled her eyes in disbelief as Mr. Schuester strolled into the room, extra chipper, and scrawled the word 'PROM' on the board. He _had_ to be kidding. Not again.

She fought back a frustrated groan as he started speaking, informing them that they'd once again provide the musical entertainment this year since it'd worked out _so well_ the year before. The man really was clueless.

This was a particularly hellish déjà vu. At the beginning of the year, Mercedes had made so many plans, determined to live out her senior year to the fullest. There would be no goal too far to reach, no stone left unturned. _Senior year would be different_, she'd thought.

Nothing hurt worse than realizing that it was an entire year later and _nothing_ had really changed. Even with the year starting out with such promise, she was right back where she'd started—struggling to shine behind Ms. Rachel Berry's all-consuming star—and without a date to the prom to boot.

She couldn't _wait_ to get out of Lima. Starting over in a new city, seeing new faces, taking in new experiences—that's where she'd really thrive. Lima was just an endless cycle of the same old tired _shit_, and Mr. Schuester's recycled theme functioned as the perfect emphasis of that fact.

While she would _never_ trade the memories she'd made with her friends this last year—Troubletones and God Squad had been bright spots in her year—she couldn't help feeling like she was _still_ missing something; like she still wasn't where she wanted to be. Mr. Schuester wasn't helping matters by throwing this in her face at the moment.

Every one of her friends would be attending the big dance that Friday, the one they'd been looking forward to since they were little freshmen, with their significant others—having ultimately figured out how not to fuck up their relationships—and she'd be attending alone—yet another reminder of how she'd had two wonderful boys who cared deeply about her, and she'd somehow managed to damn it all to hell.

She could admit now that she'd had no idea what she was doing then—pushing her feelings for Sam away, and stringing both him and Shane along. After her time apart from them both, she'd finally come to the conclusion that she should have let Shane go as soon as she figured out that she still had feelings for Sam. She was stupid to let things escalate to the point where they did.

She wouldn't have blamed them if neither one ever talked to her again. She deserved it.

That hadn't been the case, however. After his initial hurt had subsided, Shane had been friendly and accepting of the situation—telling her part of him knew her heart never really belonged to him, even if he'd tried to ignore it. They still occasionally spoke. After all, he'd been her only support for a while. Even if she couldn't be with him, she still considered him a good friend.

Even things with Sam had improved. He'd spent some time avoiding her after Valentine's Day, and that had sucked something fierce, seeing him every day and not being able to talk to him, but she needed the time and she hadn't blamed him at all for the cold shoulder.

The shoulder had eventually thawed, however, with shy apologetic smiles and hesitant text messages. Their awkward standoff had transitioned into a comfortable—sometimes awkward—friendship. The two would eat lunches together at school, practice songs for Glee club, and even had a few movie nights with Mike and Tina there to buffer.

With every second they spent together, they reconnected, but both of them were wary, and nothing had ever progressed past gazes that lasted a bit longer than necessary, sometimes unaware handholding and unsatisfying hugs as they got ready to part.

There'd been plenty of times when Mercedes wanted to just let her guard down and be with him, but after everything she'd put them both through, she was scared to make that first move.

Sam hadn't either, and she didn't blame him.

Mr. Schuester's prom theme was an all-too-painful reminder of everything that wasn't right—all that she'd messed up and was too afraid to go about fixing now.

For the second year in a row, she tightened her jaw and walked out of the room to escape all of it. She ignored the calls of her friends, intent on getting to her locker as quickly as possible and just getting home.

She couldn't risk Rachel following her out again. Come to think of it, she probably wouldn't be in this situation if not for that bright prom on a budget idea last year.

As the memories from last year's prom threatened to take over her thoughts, Mercedes walked quicker. The sooner she got home to sing her pain away, the better.

She didn't want Rachel to catch her and offer something like being the fifth wheel with her and Finn and Kurt and Blaine. She could think of about a hundred more appealing options—like sitting through a listening session of Nickelback's discography, or like plucking her eyelashes out one by one.

She certainly didn't want Kurt to find her and get any ideas about setting her up again. He'd put in about 2% effort when he'd been her closest friend. She didn't want to imagine what the .02% he probably could spare for her now would yield.

She sighed at the bitter thought, quickly pulling her books out of her locker before she headed for the exits. She'd deal with the inevitable subject of prom tomorrow.

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**A/N:** In my head this fic will span Monday - Friday. I already have it written through Thursday, but I wanna see what everyone thinks and then edit and finish the rest. Alright, I'm shutting up now. If you'd like some more, please **review**? I'd love to hear from you. No, really. I would. Review now.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you so much for the positive response to Chapter One! Your reviews really made my day. Hopefully y'all will like this part as well! Let me know! :)**

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**TUESDAY:**

Mercedes was far from happy as she trudged down the hall to her locker the next morning. While she'd managed to keep her mind off of the subject of prom at home—she'd dodged every call from her concerned friends, and ignored every text—it was back now and seemingly unavoidable. Decorations and banners adorned the halls everywhere she looked, almost mocking her with their permeation. Some of the lockers even showed off elaborate prom proposals.

Once again, the entire school was swept up in prom fever and Mercedes felt left out.

She made it to her locker, unsurprised to find it as plain as ever—no cute notes or cards attached. Its usual buff color seemed even uglier today as she stared at it. She couldn't help the pang in her heart, even as she'd known not to expect anything special. Her entire McKinley career had been a lesson in that fact—until Sam. Allowing herself one last forlorn sigh, Mercedes pushed the burdening thoughts out of her head. She'd simply have to accept how things were now. Sam was no longer hers—she'd pushed him away—and now she needed to move on.

Looking into her backpack, Mercedes pulled out the unnecessarily large Health textbook she thankfully wouldn't need until the end of the day, and opened her locker door to place it inside. The gorgeous bouquet of purple roses that greeted her, and took up almost every inch of available space inside her locker, stopped her dead in her tracks. She gasped as she took them in, reaching a quivering hand to traipse along the soft petals with her fingers.

She was powerless to stop the small smile that crept across her face and grew as she gingerly picked up the flowers and admired them. Could something she wanted actually be happening in her life for once? Did this mean what she thought it did? Was Sam making a move? She looked up and down the hall, expecting the gift giver to present himself. He didn't, and she decided to just enjoy her gift for now.

After taking a calming breath, she noticed the small lavender card attached to the flowers. She'd missed it on the first look as it'd been overwhelmed by the sheer mass of petals. Immediately, she reached for it to read the words typed onto the card in pretty, italicized font.

_All princesses deserve their night at the ball, **especially** the prettiest one of them all. Would you do me the great honor of attending prom with me this Friday? Come to the quad at lunch time tomorrow if you accept._

Mercedes literally had to tamp down the squeal that threatened to break free. She'd always be an advocate for being strong and independent, but she couldn't deny it felt good to be treated—to have someone care enough to go the extra mile for her. She'd seen Jacob Ben Israel on her way in, however, and she didn't need a schoolgirl attack to be caught on camera and shared with the entire student body. It'd be severely damaging to the badass diva persona she tried to maintain.

Again, Mercedes scanned the hall convinced Sam would be there—this had his name written all over it. Again, her search came up empty, but Mercedes' smile wouldn't fade. If he wanted to play secret admirer, she wouldn't spoil his fun. She could play along.

The warning bell rang soon after, alerting everyone in the hall that they had five minutes to get to class. Quickly exchanging her books, Mercedes grabbed one purple flower from the bunch as she made her way to her classroom.

She made her way to class, flower in hand, smiling softly as she walked down the hallway full of students. She'd been itching to run away from the school, to block out any reminders of prom, but now things were looking up.

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**A/N: Did you like it? Who do you think is behind gift? Could it be Sam? Could it be Shane? Could be the Glee Club? Could it be that kid she was singing Disco Inferno to in the hallway? You know she got him hot and bothered. I don't buy him just standing there unaffected by Mercedes Jones singing in his ear. Please review! It's a WIP. Your reviews feed my soul and make me wanna keep writing!**

I feel like I need to explain lol. The chapters might not be very long until **Friday**. This fic is pretty much all description (it's kinda my style if you've read some of my other stuff) and I tend to try and be very succinct with that. Thus, the chapter sizes will run small until Friday and I haven't decided if that will include dialogue or not. Probably very little, if at all. But I will definitely have more to describe. Anyway, sorry if the length is a problem for you, but that's how it's gonna roll.


	3. Chapter 3

**WEDNESDAY:**

Mercedes giggled and shook her head in disbelief as The God Squad, with the _enthusiastic_ help of Tina and Mike, delivered their singing telegram—a mash-up of _It Girl_ by Jason Derulo and _Keep You With Me_ by Hot Chelle Rae. They'd ambushed her as soon as she'd made it to the quad that afternoon, telling her _'the secret admirer'_ had set it up to tell her how happy he was she'd accepted.

She wasn't sure what she'd expected to happen on the quad that day, but this had definitely taken her by surprise. The God Squad hadn't done singing telegrams since that disastrous Valentine's Day that she didn't like to think about. She'd stood on that stage, singing and dancing next to Sam while he bored holes into the side of her head. It definitely wasn't on her list of things she wanted to live through again, but this was appeasing some of the bad taste left in her mouth from that night.

She pushed the thoughts as far out of her mind as she could as she watched her friends sing and dance their way around the entire quad, jumping up on tables—making a big spectacle of themselves while the entire school looked on. The lyrics spoke of burgeoning love that couldn't be quashed even through distance and difficulties and the promise of a bright future. Mercedes only had one person in mind as far as that went.

She let the warmth of the moment wash over her as she tried to make eye contact with Sam. All she'd been wanting for weeks now was to let him know that she'd finally figured herself out—she was done trying to deny that she wanted him. She'd finally admitted that it was him her heart wanted all along and all the ways she'd pushed him away had been a mistake. She understood now that cheating on Shane—while still being a completely awful decision—it didn't define who she was and it didn't make her a bad person. Her heart had been telling her then that Shane was not the right fit—but Sam was. She had no choice in loving him, but she'd been steadfastly trying to do the right thing. She'd been so concerned with not hurting anyone, that she'd let it get out of hand and wound up hurting everyone.

Sam hadn't said anything in weeks, though, even as they'd fallen back into their friendship. She'd thought she was too late, but all of this _had_ to be his way of letting her know she wasn't. More than ever now, she just wanted to talk to him and find out what all of this meant. She had resolved to let this play out, but with every passing moment, the desire to know what was going on—to be certain—ate at her.

Sam hadn't let on about _anything_, going on about everything like all was normal in his world. He only stared at her blankly when she eyed him at lunch and in Glee. In fact, he steadily avoided any prolonged eye contact with her now, even as he performed. Mercedes couldn't get a proper read on him—but she was on to him just the same. No one enjoyed a grand romantic gesture more than Sam Evans—and as far as those went, this was pretty grand. Who else could it be?

Throughout the performance he let his gaze settle on her only for a few seconds at a time, strumming his guitar, and offering her small smiles before he twirled away to interact with some of the other people on the quad. She couldn't tell if he was happy or _anything_ and it frustrated the hell out of her.

The other members of the God Squad kept her too busy to stay focused on him, however. Tina and Quinn kept her sandwiched between them as they sang before relinquishing her to Mike, who playfully spun her around repeatedly, leaving her giddy, dizzy, and breathless by the end of the performance.

Mercedes tried to speak to Sam then, attempting to make a beeline for him, but Tina and Quinn cut her off with a dramatic reading of the rest of her telegram.

**_One more token of your prince's affections will await at your locker tomorrow._**

With that, Tina and Quinn fell into a fit of giggles as they handed Mercedes another purple rose and pulled her into their giddy embrace. By the time Mercedes looked back toward Sam, she found that he, Joe, and Mike had already started to make their way back into the school, leaving Mercedes to stare after Sam in frustration. She needed to talk to him.

She started to turn her attentions to back to Tina and Quinn, prepared to grill them, when something—_someone_, rather—caught her attention. She hesitantly waved back to a smiling Shane, before glancing back in the direction where Sam had disappeared.

She took an uncomfortable deep breath before turning back to Tina and Quinn, feeling Shane's eyes on her the whole time.

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**A/N:** **Please review?** I hope you liked it. The mash-up isn't one I've heard, btw. I just thought it would work and it'd actually make my day if someone would do it. Both are awesome songs! Anyway, what did you think? Let me know? BTW, I laughed so hard in the reviews for the last bit when people actually believed I'd make the random hallway guy Mercedes was singing to in Disco Inferno her love interest. I was kidding...I swears it. _Or was I?_ Lol.


	4. Chapter 4

**THURSDAY:**

Sam was playing dumb—all of their friends were, too. Sam was her 'admirer'. Mercedes desperately wanted to believe this—repeating it almost like a mantra in her head over the last couple of days—but she couldn't quell the little doubts in her mind—especially after the way Shane had been looking at her on the quad. His eyes had followed her as she goofed around with her friends, and stayed with her until she disappeared back inside the building.

It could have ended then. She could have asked him about it, but she'd been too afraid of his answer to bring herself to do it. What if he'd admitted to being responsible for all of this? She didn't trust herself not to crumble in disappointment in front of him, and how rude would that have been?

She _had_ broached the subject with Sam, however—subtly trying to probe him via text message the night before. That had proven a fruitless task. She hadn't been any more certain of his involvement at the end of the exercise than when she'd started.

**M:** So, flowers and a courtyard serenade. Pretty romantic, huh?

**S:** Uhm…sure. Yeah. It was nice. You seemed happy.

**M:** I was happy. This is all a nice surprise when I'd just about given up on the prom, you know? I wonder who'd do something like that for me.

**S:** It's not all that surprising. You deserve nice things. I'm glad you're happy, after everything…

**M:** I'd be a whole lot happier if I knew who this mystery person was, though…

He hadn't replied to her texts after that—only called her an hour later saying his phone had died. Before she could prod him about it any further, he'd moved on to asking if she'd seen the latest episode of Psych—more specifically, was he allowed to talk to her about it yet because he didn't want a repeat of the last time he'd spoiled her. He claimed he still had bruises to show for that.

That had started a debate, and before Mercedes knew it, she was going on about plot lines in the latest episode, and he was having a conversation as both Shawn and Gus and she'd been laughing entirely too much to remember what she really wanted to tell him.

Her friends weren't any better—either not answering her calls or giving her the tried and true, "I don't know anything." She'd side-eyed Tina hard, in particular, at that answer. Tina _always_ knew something.

Needless to say, she was frustrated as hell.

Prom was a day away and she still wasn't even a hundred percent sure who she'd agreed to go with. Who even did that? She believed with all of her heart that it was Sam, but there was still that nagging fear that it wouldn't be—or that even if it was, he wouldn't want the same things to result from this as she did.

She wanted this night to be a new beginning, but what if he'd only done this to appease her hurt feelings—as her friend; one last hurrah before they went their separate ways. It would be her luck for her to finally sort out what she wanted, only to have Sam realize he wanted something else.

Or what if it wasn't him at all?

She knew it'd break her heart if this all didn't pan out the way she wanted.

Mercedes rolled her eyes as she strolled up to her locker. This entire situation was turning her into a walking ball of drama and she didn't love it. She sighed as she pulled open her locker door and stopped short at its contents. As consuming as the rumblings in her mind had been that entire day, she'd completely forgotten about the token that would 'await' at her locker. She smiled a bit sadly as she lifted the card placed in front of the small gift bag in her locker. As appreciative as she was of the gestures, she'd be happier with some answers—happier if she knew Sam felt the way she did.

_I read somewhere that diamonds are the strongest, brightest, most beautiful gems in the entire world. I thought it was only fitting you should have them._

Mercedes' face was etched with her astonishment. She reached for the gift bag with shaking fingers and pulled out the little velvet box. Inside of it sat two beautiful diamond stud earrings. Her thoughts were running a mile a minute. He'd given her diamonds—_expensive_ diamonds.

She closed her eyes and shook her head. She didn't know whether to kiss him or kill him. She didn't even know if the 'him' she thought of in her head was the same him doing all of this. This was all getting more frustrating by the second.

Storing the earrings safely in her purse, she went off toward her first class, determined to finally corner Sam that day and get everything out in the open. At the start, she'd been happy to go along with the game—to enjoy it, but the not-knowing was literally killing her now. This needed to end right then.

Except…she hadn't seen Sam anywhere around the school—and she'd been looking all over.

Coach Roz sent her on with a colorful message to relay for not showing up to swim practice that morning—something about flaking being worse than peeing in her pool. Mercedes didn't know what that meant, but it seemed intense. She feared for Sam's safety a little bit. She all but ran away from the woman once her speech was over.

Everywhere else she tried was more of the same. Texting him yielded no answer. He was even absent from Glee and Mercedes took the moment to interrogate Kurt about it.

"He wasn't feeling well this morning," Kurt said simply while Mercedes eyed him. He looked at her confusedly as she stared him down, looking for a lie.

"Why don't you call him or something if you're so upset about it," Kurt suggested before slowly turning his attention to Blaine. Mercedes sighed.

It was simple. She'd been thwarted. All of the senior girls would be out of school tomorrow busy with their prom errands. Sorting all of this out would have to wait until the prom itself.

Dammit.

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**A/N:** We're getting to the eeeeeeend. **Please review?**


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